The seventh volume in the Voice of Witness series presents the narratives of former political prisoners and refugees from Burma. Decades of military oppression in Burma have led to the systematic destruction of over 3,000 ethnic minority villages, one of the largest numbers of child soldiers in the world, and the displacement of millions of people internally and across borders. The narratives in this book offer a powerful depiction of daily life within Burma as well as the tenuous border regions to which an estimated 1-2 million have fled. In their own words, men and women from Burma describe how their lives have been deeply altered by the country’s current military regime: refugees who have fled military-sponsored violence and ethnic and religious persecution; political dissidents jailed and tortured for their actions and youth and community leaders working for solutions at great personal risk. Their stories reveal the human toll exacted by the country’s regime, with intersecting issues of forced labor, sexual violence, displacement, environmental degradation, the drug trade and HIV/AIDS. This book is a unique compilation of stories from Burma, as seen through different lenses of gender, location, education, political opinion, and ethnicity. Woven together, these stories are testament to the complexity and magnitude of the human rights crisis in Burma, as well as to the resilience of its people.

Maggie Lemere has traveled and worked in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. She holds an MA in international peace & conflict resolution from American University in Washington DC. Maggie focuses her writing and photography projects on human rights; she has worked on Burma issues in the US and Southeast Asia. She lives in Washington, DC.

Zoë West is a writer whose work investigates social issues and cultural exchange. Zoë grew up in the U.S. and has since lived and worked in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Central America. She is pursuing graduate studies in social anthropology at the University of Oxford.